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Some water companies are instructing bailiffs as they try to recover customers’ debt more than 6,000 times in a single year, new data reveals.
The information gathered by a committee of MPs has not been freely available before and reveals huge variations in water companies’ use of the tactic.
Wessex Water have not been using bailiffs at all over the last decade, and Welsh Water has used them less than 1,000 times in every year from 2019 to 2025.
But Southern Water instructed bailiffs 15,707 times in 2019, more than 6,000 times in 2020, more than 5,000 times in 2023, more than 8,000 times in 2024, and more than 4,000 times last year.
The figures collected by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) Committee show Yorkshire Water, United Utilities and Severn Trent as the other companies to have used bailiffs more than 6,000 times in a year.
And the MPs also highlighted South West Water/Pennon and Northumbrian Water as being among the most prolific bailiff users.
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The Efra committee used its position to reveal the figures because water companies are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act “despite providing an essential public service”, chairman Alistair Carmichael said.
He said it was “concerning to see the extent of their use of bailiffs” and the data “should be seen in the context of various cost-of-living shocks that have hit households over recent years”.
“For any family or individual to be subject to legal action is no small matter and can be a cause of severe stress and anxiety,” Mr Carmichael added.
“We would urge any company to review its practices and ensure they are as sparing and compassionate as possible.”
In 2022, Severn Trent instructed bailiffs 11,574 times and used them more than 7,000 occasions the year after. United Utilities has used bailiffs more than 6,000 times every year since 2021; and Yorkshire Water did so last year and in 2024.
The committee found…
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